Citizen Access to Information in Papua New Guinea for ABC ID and AusAID

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Countries: Australia, Papua New Guinea

Challenge

The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) wanted to better understand local community needs in order to provide a catalyst to make content and programming changes that will have a positive effect.

InterMedia was hired to conduct a multi-method study designed to assist NBC, and partners ABC International Development and AusAID, in achieving their strategic objectives in Papua New Guinea, by strengthening the capacity of NBC through its pre-existing relationship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The study had the following key objectives:

To understand citizens’ key information needs and sources of information;

To determine the access to media and media reach in the regions within the country;

To understand key barriers to media access and use;

To evaluate audience perceptions of NBC and other key media outlets;

To understand to what extent NBC and other key media outlets meet information needs;

To understand audiences’ program and content preferences; and

To assess citizens’ exposure to communication campaigns on violence against women and maternal health, and the potential impact of these campaigns on their attitudes and behavior.

Approach

In collaboration with ABC International Development, InterMedia designed a multi-method approach, combining mini-citizen discussion groups and a regionally representative face-to-face survey.

Overall, the approach to this study was closely aligned with InterMedia’s Citizen Access to Information research initiative that specifically addresses the relationship between development outcomes and people’s access to information in very precise terms. This approach argues that access to information is composed of five key components – access to sources, consumption or exposure, content and evaluation of this content and sources as well as attribution of impact.

Insight

The geographical diversity of Papua New Guinea, infrastructural challenges, income differences between different regions, and the considerable ethnic diversity of the country strongly influence the information needs, media access and media behavior of citizens living in different parts of the country. While those living in urban centers enjoy a relatively diverse media access in their homes, many remote rural areas are still considered “media dark”, with household media access often limited to only one media device, typically a radio or a mobile phone. Due to this lack of home media access, communal media consumption is pervasive, and regular communal media use in all PNG regions considerably exceeds personal home access to media sources.

Citizen Access to Information in Papua New Guinea for ABC ID and AusAID

Countries: Australia, Papua New Guinea

Challenge

The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) wanted to better understand local community needs in order to provide a catalyst to make content and programming changes that will have a positive effect.

InterMedia was hired to conduct a multi-method study designed to assist NBC, and partners ABC International Development and AusAID, in achieving their strategic objectives in Papua New Guinea, by strengthening the capacity of NBC through its pre-existing relationship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The study had the following key objectives:

To understand citizens’ key information needs and sources of information;

To determine the access to media and media reach in the regions within the country;

To understand key barriers to media access and use;

To evaluate audience perceptions of NBC and other key media outlets;

To understand to what extent NBC and other key media outlets meet information needs;

To understand audiences’ program and content preferences; and

To assess citizens’ exposure to communication campaigns on violence against women and maternal health, and the potential impact of these campaigns on their attitudes and behavior.

Approach

In collaboration with ABC International Development, InterMedia designed a multi-method approach, combining mini-citizen discussion groups and a regionally representative face-to-face survey.

Overall, the approach to this study was closely aligned with InterMedia’s Citizen Access to Information research initiative that specifically addresses the relationship between development outcomes and people’s access to information in very precise terms. This approach argues that access to information is composed of five key components – access to sources, consumption or exposure, content and evaluation of this content and sources as well as attribution of impact.

Insight

The geographical diversity of Papua New Guinea, infrastructural challenges, income differences between different regions, and the considerable ethnic diversity of the country strongly influence the information needs, media access and media behavior of citizens living in different parts of the country. While those living in urban centers enjoy a relatively diverse media access in their homes, many remote rural areas are still considered “media dark”, with household media access often limited to only one media device, typically a radio or a mobile phone. Due to this lack of home media access, communal media consumption is pervasive, and regular communal media use in all PNG regions considerably exceeds personal home access to media sources.